Nagpur:
After coming under fire from animal rights activists for
entering a tiger enclosure at Nagpur Zoo, Maharashtra
Agriculture Minister Balasaheb Thorat on Monday strongly
denied doing any wrong. Dismissing the criticism, Thorat
said he did not do anything illegal. "I had gone into
the enclosure to see how the authorities were taking care
of wild animals, " he said. On Sunday, Thorat, who is
also the district in charge minister of Nagpur , entered
a tiger enclosure in Nagpur Zoo along with a tiger trainer,
District Congress Committee President Jaiprakash Gupta
and his gunman. A video footage of the incident which
was made public by a section of the media has kick started
a controversy for Thorat. In the video footage, Thorat
is seen bending down and playing with the tiger. At one
point, the tiger tries to break away from the duo, but
is restrained and brought back. Thorat visited the zoo
and inspected the facilities available for both animals
and visitors. Gupta said the zoo authorities insisted
that Thorat should enter the cage during his visit. Animal
rights activists have registered a strong protest demanding
action against Thorat for violation of the Wildlife Protection
Act. As per the Wildlife Protection Act only zoo authorities
are permitted to enter animal enclosures. The state forest
department has initiated an inquiry into the incident.
-August
17, 2009